Carton closing machine



w. P. DANIELS CARTON CLOSING MACHINE April 5, 1960 Filed March 25, "1955 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 4 z 2 1| M w v 6 .4.

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CARTON CLOSING MACHINE Filed larch 25, 1955 3 Sheets-Sheer. 2

INVENTOR. M8697 P final/46 April 5, 1960 w. P. DANIELS CARTON CLOSING MACHINE a SheetsSheet 3 Filed March 25, 1955 AT?" GENE X51 United gtates t atent CARTON CLOSING MACHINE Wilbert P. Daniels, Green Bay, Wis., assignor to Green Bay Box Company, Green Bay, Wis, a corporation of Wisconsin- Application March 25, 1955, Serial No. 496,838 8 Claims. or. 53 74 This invention relates to a carton closing machine and method.

Cartons folded on the machine of the present invention may be those shown in my copending patent application Serial No. 424,586 filed April 21, 1954.

The object of the machine of the present invention is to set up, seal and pressure pack the contents of the carton in a substantially continuous operation. quence of steps by which this is done is to partially fold the carton blank about its contents, position the partially folded carton at one end of a hopper having constricting walls, infold flaps to which adhesive had previously been applied and thereupon force the carton into the hopper wherein the constricting walls of the hopper apply lateral pressure to support the container in the hopper and maintain this pressure while the adhesive sets. The movement of the carton into the hopper concurrently ejects a previously closed carton from the other end of the hopper.

In the machine of the present invention the previously closed carton serves as a table upon which the carton undergoing closing is supported. The machine is provided with side walls having flap folding fingers which sequentially infold carton flaps. These flap folding fingers also serve to align the carton with the hopper. A power operated pusher plate is provided to force the aligned folded carton against its supporting carton and into the hopper. The side walls of the hopper are desirably provided with cam surfaces which fold sealing flaps into contact with previously folded flaps in the course of movement of the carton into the hopper.

Other features and advantages of the apparatus and method of my invention will be more apparent from an examination of the following disclosure in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in vertical cross section through the hopper and with the forward bracket support omitted, of a machine embodying my invention.

Fig. 2 is a greatly enlarged developed plan of a carton blank which may be folded by my machine.

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the device of Fig. l, partly in horizontal cross section through the hopper wall extension which supports the pusher plate guides.

Figs 4 through 7 are perspective views showing the sequence of steps of machine operations in closing a carton.

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary cross section taken along the line 88 of Fig. 7, the carton being shown in sequential positions of movement into the hopper.

The carton blank is shown in developed plan in Fig. 2 and comprises panels including a top 10, bottom 11, side 12, side flaps 13 and 14 which lap to constitute a side opposite side 12 when the carton is folded, top end flaps 15, bottom end flaps 16, side end flaps 17 and flaps 18 at the ends of the side flap 13. Bottom 11 may be provided with a tear strip 19 which is continuous across the bottom and bottom end flaps 16. As indicated Tree by the stippling, flaps 13 and 16 are provided with an adhesive coating;

The machine comprises a hopper 21 having constricting walls including a front wall 22, side walls 23 and a rear wall 24 which has an extension 25 above the level 1 which the arm 28 of presser plate 29 is mounted.

The se- Arm 28 is connected to piston rod 32 of a piston (not shown) in the cylinder 33 of a fluid motor which may be either pneumatically or hydraulically operated. Fluid lines 35, 35 lead from opposite ends of the cylinder 33 through a control valve 36 of conventional design to a fluid supply line 37. The control valve 36 has an actuator plunger 38. When depressed the plunger energizes the fluid motor to cause the presser plate 29 to move downwardly toward the hopper throat. The actuator plunger 38 is subject to the bias of return spring 39 which will reverse the action of the fluid motor 33 when pressure on the actuator plunger 38 is released. The presser plate will thereupon return to open position.

The hopper 21 and associated mechanism are supported on floor brackets 42 which also support an upwardly inclined conveyor 43 including a belt 44 having lugs 45 spaced therealong. The belt may be supported on rollers 40 having their shafts supported on brackets 42. The conveyor 43 may be of any convenient length to deliver closed and sealed cartons to any convenient delivery point.

Hopper 21 is desirably deep enough to hold four or five closed cartons as indicated in Fig. l. The constricting walls of the hopper constitute a throat through which the closed cartons are forced. The Walls exert suificient lateral pressure on the opposed walls of the cartons to frictionally support the cartons in the hopper subject only to their ejection by the pressure of presser plate 29. This pressure also keeps the carton walls tensioned about the carton contents until the adhesive has set.

The side walls 23 of the hopper are desirably provided at their upper edges with cam rails 46 having arcuate or progressively steeper beveled cam surfaces 47 about which the side flaps of the carton are folded and the carton guided into the hopper. The cam rails 46 are mounted on side walls 23 by bolts 50.

The carton contents may be positioned on carton bottom panel 11 and the remaining panels partially tensioned by hand about the contents as shown in Fig. 5 in which the partially folded carton is shown in the course of being manually inserted between the presser plate 29 and the top 10 of a previously closed carton. The previously closed carton functions as a table upon which the succeeding partially closed carton is supported during machine operations. The open position of the machine prior to insertion of the partially manually closed carton is shown in Fig. 4.

Rear wall extension 25 mounts positioning fingers 48 which have slide portions 49 adjustably mounted in wall grooves 52. The grooves are slotted at 53 and the position of each finger 48 can be adjusted by means of the screw 54 which extends through the slot 53 and is provided with a nut (not shown) at the rear surface of the. wall 25. When the carton blank is manually positioned between the fingers 48 it is aligned vertically with the throat of hopper 21.

As the partially closed carton is slid rearwardly over the top It} of the previously folded carton and between fingers 48, its side end flaps 17 are engaged by the fingers 48 to close the flaps 17 against the previously manually 3 folded top end fiap 15. During the course of positioning the carton its bottom end flaps 16 are held by their natural resilience substantially in the plane of the bottom 11. Accordingly, side end flaps 17 are swept across the extending bottom end fiaps'16 as shown inFig. 5.'

To the front wall 22 of the hopper I- pivotally mount plate 56 on hinge 55. The plate 56 has a handle 57 by which it may be manipulated in the next step of machine operation as shown in Fig. 6. The side margins of the hinged plate 56 are provided with inwardly extending flap folding and carton positioning fingers 58 which engage and infold the flaps 18 at the ends of the side wall flap '13 to infold flaps 18 against previously manually folded top end flaps 15 in the manner shown in Figs. 6 and 7. .In the course of this action, the plate 56 also bears against side flap 13 to press it against the infolded side flap 14.. The fingers 58 also cooperate with fingers 48 on rear wall extension 25 to position the carton in alignment withthe hopper 21.

Swinging plate 56 is also provided with a striker arm 59 having an adjustable striker stem 62 which engages the yieldable actuator plunger 38 of the fluid control mechanism 36 when the plate 56 reaches an upright position. The fluid motor 33 is thus energized to apply downward pressure on the presser plate 29 and force the carton down into the hopper 21. In the course of its downward movement the outwardly extending flaps 16 of the carton are folded upwardly as they pivot around the arcuately inclined or beveled faces 47 of the cam rails 46. This is best illustrated in Fig. 7 in which the carton has been partially forced into the hopper.

The final position of the carton is shown in Fig. 4. Here the adhesively coated end flaps 16 and side flap 13 are pressed tightly by the constrictive walls of the hopper against the underlying carton flaps. Flap 13 will bond to panel 14 and flaps 16 will bond to flaps 17, 18. The pressure of the constricting walls of the hopper keep the adhesive under pressure until the adhesive has set.

"The progressively steepening beveled surfaces 47 on the cam rails'46 provide for gradual upward swing of the panels 16 in the course of the downward movement of prmser plate 29. Accordingly, panels 16 do not press 'ghtly against their underlying flaps until downward movement of the carton has substantially cleared panel 16from fingers 48, 58. The sequence of steps in which the panel 16 is gradually folded upwardly is illustrated in Fig. 8.

As the topmost carton is acted upon by the presser plate 29, pressure is transmitted through intermediate cartons to the bottommost carton 63 which is expelled downwardly out of the hopper 21 and onto the underlying conveyor 43 as best shown in Fig. 1.

I claim:

1. A carton closing machine comprising an upright hopper having relatively fixed upright constricting walls in which previously closed cartons are impositively confined against gravity descent, the exposed top of the uppermost closed carton in said hopper providing a table on which succeeding cartons are positioned for closing, a pusher plate, and means mounting the pusher plate for movement between a position spaced above the level of the top of said uppermost closed carton and successive positions of pusher plate approach to said hopper whereby said plate sequentially forces closed cartons downwardly through the hopper and against the resistance oifered by said constricting walls, said machine further comprising a rear wall, said wall being provided with a finger against which a carton on the table is pressed in the course of aligning it with the hopper, said finger comprising means for engaging and infolding an end flap of the carton blank. I

2. A carton closing machine comprising an upright hopper having relatively fixed upright constricting walls in which previously closed cartons are impositively confined against gravity descent, the exposed top of the uppermost closed carton in said hopper providing a table on which succeeding cartons are positioned for closing, a pusher plate, and means mounting the pusher plate for movement between a position spaced above the level of the top of said uppermost closed carton and successive positions of pusher plate approach to said hopper whereby said plate sequentially forces closed cartons downwardly through the hopper and against the resistance offered by said constricting walls, in combination with a flap folding plate and means mounting said flap folding plate at one side'of a carton on said table for movement between an open position in which the carton may be freely inserted between the raised pusher and said table and a closed position in which a projecting flap of the carton is infolded against remaining portions of the carton blank.

3. The device of claim 2 in further combination with a motor for actuating said pusher plate through its said successive positions, a motor control and means actuating said motor control in response to movement of said flap folding plate to its said closed position.

4. The device of claim 2 in which said flap folding plate has a flap engaging finger which engages an end flap of the carton in the course of its movement to closed position whereby to infold said end flap against a previously folded part of the carton.

5. A device for folding the flaps of a carton about carton contents, said device comprising a carton support, a wall adjacent said support and extending upwardly at the side thereof, a pusher plate having means mounting it on said upwardly extending wall and means for the powered actuation of said pusher plate toward said support, said wall having a flap folding finger extending therefrom whereby a carton blank partially folded about its carton contents and having an extending flap may be moved be neath the pusher plate and against the wall for engage-- them of the flap by the finger for infolding the flap against the carton, said device further comprising a plate and means upon which said plate is mounted for movement between an open position to permit the carton to be positioned beneath the pusher plate and a closed position in which the plate presses against a side of the carton blank opposite its side engaging said upwardly extending wall, said plate having a finger which engages another extending flap on the carton blank in the course of its movement to its closed position for infolding said flap against the carton.

6. ,The device of claim 5 in which said power means is provided with a control, said plate being provided with an actuator which engages the control in the course of movement of the plate toward its closed position.

7. The device of claim 6 in which the support for the carton comprises a hopper having constricting side walls between which a previously folded carton is adapted tobe confined and to support the carton undergoing folding, said hopper having an edge against which a flap on said carton is engaged in the course of movement of said pusher plate to infold said flap over the flaps previously folded by said fingers in the course of movement of said carton into the hopper.

8. The device of claim 7 in which said hopper edge is provided with a progressively steepening cam surface whereby the flap is gradually pivoted thereabout in the course of movement of the carton into the hopper.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Palmer Oct. 11,193 

